View From The Porch: I'm having flashbacks...

Friday, April 10, 2009

I'm having flashbacks...

Our new President is displaying all the resolve, aplomb, and effectiveness of Jimmy Carter during the Tehran embassy crisis.

36 comments:

Anonymous said...: Some sharp shooters would have taken care of these pirates yesterday!; 10:00 AM, April 10, 2009
Bob said...: He must not have seen Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End or he'd know how to handle pirates.; 10:32 AM, April 10, 2009
Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...: What's the point of having a Navy if we don't use it?

The Somali coastline should be one long, smouldering ruin by now.; 10:43 AM, April 10, 2009
Anonymous said...: We need the Mighty Mo out of mothballs to do the job.Her 16in guns would take care of the problem.; 10:45 AM, April 10, 2009
Jay G said...: When I heard that Captain Philips had made a break for it - but then been recaptured - I had to look out the window to see if I was still on Planet Earth.

Wait just a freakin' minute.

The hostage escaped.

Think about that for a second. Philips took it upon himself to get the hell out.

WHY, in the name of all that's good and holy, wasn't that lifeboat RIDDLED with gunfire the INSTANT Captain Philips broke the water?

I mean, we've got people spotting the boat, right?

RIGHT?

Why is it that we have all kinds of sharpshooters and spotters when it comes to angry hermits in flyover states, but not a single one when it comes to freakin' pirates???; 11:00 AM, April 10, 2009
Anonymous said...: Quote:
Nathan Brindle said...

What's the point of having a Navy if we don't use it?

The Somali coastline should be one long, smouldering ruin by now.

End Quote:

Not that I disagree with you. But how would anyone tell the difference?

Ted; 11:01 AM, April 10, 2009
Tam said...: Shell them forward to the Stone Age!; 11:03 AM, April 10, 2009
Anonymous said...: Guess what John Wayne would have done?; 11:36 AM, April 10, 2009
Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...: Ted: Good point :); 12:17 PM, April 10, 2009
Anonymous said...: Jay, glad I'm not the only one thinking WTF? when I heard that this morning. Now the pirates are on the way out there with hostages from other ships to use as human shields while they rescue their buddies. I guess John Kerry will have to have another hearing.

Word verfication=densi
As in "Obama; how much densi gonna get?"; 12:46 PM, April 10, 2009
TJP said...: That's not funny in the least. Are we past 100 days yet?; 1:13 PM, April 10, 2009
Noah D said...: "Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead!"; 1:25 PM, April 10, 2009
Ken said...: Gee, maybe we can have Howard Hesseman make a special appearance on SNL tomorrow to lead an audience chant of "RE-STRAINT!!!" You know, for auld lang syne....; 1:54 PM, April 10, 2009
the pawnbroker said...: flashbacks? dang, you were a precocious 11 year old, weren't you? not that i'm surprised.

let's hope the rescue effort goes better than carter's, though...i'm in no mood to see dead Americans dragged through the streets of tehran -i mean the straits of africa-. except maybe jimmah...i mean barry.

jtc; 1:54 PM, April 10, 2009
the pawnbroker said...: seriously, i find it ridiculous that we are risking our military people and expending millions on this when the merchant sailors like the ones in tampa interviewed on teevee last night are saying they don't want to be armed as that would somehow hurt the credibility of the business?

f' that...when i was younger and stupider in the 70's i made $100 a day on the side running the boat for some guys (one an engineer at pratt-whitney and one a cop!) who liked to poach giant grouper with bangsticks on the weekends fifty miles off palm beach. if they left their boat unattended while they were diving, "pirates" from the bahamian out-islands near their fishing grounds would steal their gear -or the whole boat. so my job was to watch for the islanders in their high-bow wooden boats who would make their way out toward what looked like unattended vessels...and spray two or twenty rounds from a mini-14 into the water near them. they turned around pretty quick, and i only had to do that once. i'm sure these somalis would do likewise after a few "incidents" occurred.

regardless, though...if these vessels want to ply those waters and do not want to take responsibility for their own protection, i'd be reluctant to foot the bill and risk American military casualties for them...unless it was a proper assault to wipe them out in one fell swoop in the name of maintaining maritime passage.

jtc; 2:19 PM, April 10, 2009
Joseph said...: The US destroyer is sitting several hundred yards from the pirates to stay out of rifle (and maybe RPG) range.
Read today that "pirate reinforcements" are enroute. WTF?? Can't the communications be jammed? And why in the hell are we paying for what, 12-15 carrier battle groups when we can't handle 4 f****in pirates in a out of gas rowboat in the middle of the ocean?

I guess not.

Send in an assult ship with Cobras, Marines, rubber boats and amtracks...and let them take care of it. My guess is the destroyer doesn't have any Marines, snipers, etc. on board. Sailors only, but they are not trained for anything but ship to ship confrontations.; 3:30 PM, April 10, 2009
Crucis said...: Our post-revolution Navy was created specifically to handle pirates. One of the prime responsibilities of the Navy is to protect our shipping. Ford understood that. Apparently the lesson is lost on liberals.; 5:22 PM, April 10, 2009
NotClauswitz said...: Oh great, next Obama will be be threatened by a frenzied rabbit and he'll jump out of his canoe. Then there'll be his UFO sightings. Such intergalactic statesmanship! Another great public display, like his grandiloquent bow to the Saudi sand-pounder.; 6:50 PM, April 10, 2009
rickn8or said...: I'm thinking a couple-three SEALS SCUBA over, poke a hole in the bottom of the boat, and, after it sinks, sticking anyone that doesn't holler in American.

"Pirates? What Pirates?"; 7:18 PM, April 10, 2009
Rio Arriba said...: O, c'mon fer pete's sake.

He's our Prezz, and he bows so nice.; 7:34 PM, April 10, 2009
fast richard said...: A navy officer who ordered his crew to deal effectively with the pirates might end his carreer. If he did so I would be happy to vote for him for President in 2012.; 8:10 PM, April 10, 2009
Allan said...: You are being very unfair to Jimmy Carter.

Even he, with the aid of a destroyer,
might have managed to rescue one man,
after he had escaped from a lifeboat.; 9:05 PM, April 10, 2009
Anonymous said...: No cohones! That's the problem!; 9:06 PM, April 10, 2009
Anonymous said...: That our navy was unprepared for the escape break indicates one thing: they are under no instructions other than "wait" by President Obama.

Perhaps the Saudis will show up and save us. They owe us after Obama's pledge of subservience.; 9:25 PM, April 10, 2009
Anonymous said...: I'm sure Obama ordered the Navy to read the pirates...er, make that suspects, their rights before arresting them for attempted robbery and kidnapping.

And is there a qualified Sudanese speaking lawyer on-board the destroyer? How can these suspects get their rights respected without a court-appointed attorney???; 9:43 PM, April 10, 2009
Boghie said...: Hopefully this is NOT:

Day 4 of 444 days of national embarrassment.

Uuuugggghhhhhhh...

The only reason we haven't nailed these turds is because of the enlightened Carteresque leadership at the very top!; 10:52 PM, April 10, 2009
Somerled said...: Reuters lead published in the UK:

"Ragtag teams of modern-day Blackbeards are posing an annoying distraction for Barack Obama, forcing him to add Somalia to an already long list of foreign policy challenges."

Well, we wouldn't want him to be annoyed too much with naval affairs and minor foreign policy decisions during Easter weekend. That's what his "interagency group on maritime safety that includes agencies represented by the Department of Homeland Security, the Commerce Department, Energy, Justice and the FBI, the State Department, Transportation, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff" is for, according to Robert Gibbs, Obama press secretary.; 11:05 PM, April 10, 2009
Firehand said...: One of the big problems is Obama is one of those clowns who puts more value on words than on actual action; far better to spend days in this bullshit than actually, you know, kill the pirates. Which might upset somebody, which he also wants to avoid at all cost.

Remember someone describing Carter as the first 'process' President? That he seemed to think that as long as the process was done properly, the outcome didn't seem to matter all that much. I'm seeing a resemblance, all right. At least when it comes to protecting Americans.; 11:35 PM, April 10, 2009
ron nord said...: President Dufuss is really setting himself up for the bad boys now. If he can't make a decision about something like this, you just know the North Koreans and Iranian's own his ass now.

This would not be happening with McCain or Palen or any number of people I can think of; the guys on the ships must have been flabbergasted when they got the no shoot order. Way to go President Dufuss.; 11:58 PM, April 10, 2009
Anonymous said...: His teleprompter broke down and was unable tell him what to do, so Hillary suggests sending over the FBI. Biden already had his hot milk for the night and was out of action so the big "O" told Hillary to make the official announcement.; 12:32 AM, April 11, 2009
Anonymous said...: I'm gonna hafta start adding a healthy belt of Evan Williams to the water glass of Tagamet,which I drink before watching the evening news.

All a buncha cogent points above, and easily perceived by the peasants in the flyover zone. Bbbbbaaaaaang!!! Dead pirate exterminated-culture good; Mungo like dead p-pirates. "Package for Abdullah, package for Abdullah!"

Not complicated: what are neutron bombs for anywayz?

But, whatsa buncha NON-Important People know? More than the country's leadership, apparently.

And so, the Network Propagandists at 6PM ask, "Are You Really Safer with A gun?"

J t R --

listomp -- yeah, 'specially dem Somali pyrates, OK?; 1:12 AM, April 11, 2009
Ofc. Krupke said...: I about screamed when I heard our esteemed Secretary of State say:

"We are watching this and intend to do everything we can to ensure there is no loss of life."

Actually, a little loss of life might be helpful. I can point out which lives specifically if they have trouble figuring it out.; 4:20 AM, April 11, 2009
Hunsdon said...: Man, talk about flashbacks! I'm remembering that song Dandy Don Meredith used to sing at the end of Monday Night Football, when the game was in the bag, when it was all over. Good old Willie Nelson song, it was, too. Now, how did it go? Oh yeah. "Turn out the lights, the party's over, they say that all good things must end."

Only now I'm not thinking about football.

wv: cogistuf. You know, when you're texting friends that your cogitating about stuff.; 9:11 AM, April 11, 2009
Anonymous said...: How soon will the local TV News helicopters appear and give us a blow by blow (as in huff and puff) account of this fiasco? I can't wait for the America's Most Wanted documentary...perhaps we can trade a few diplomats for Captain Phillips...certainly worth the exchange.; 1:51 PM, April 11, 2009
bse5150 said...: A quick review of the Obama Administration since January:

- Iranian crisis: nothing done

- N. Korean crisis: nothing done

- Somali/Pirate crisis: nothing done

- Deficit: at record levels

- Unemployment: 30 year record

- Achievements/concessions from allies while on European Trip: little to none

- Overall Business Climate in US: poor

- Promise Not To Raise Taxes: Reneged

- Promise Not To Be Run By Lobbyists: Reneged

- Promise of Smart, Tough Diplomacy: yet to be seen

- Guantanamo: Still Open

Add your own comments below...; 3:31 PM, April 11, 2009
closed said...: Trade Obama for all of the US hostages.; 4:39 PM, April 11, 2009

View From The Porch

Friday, April 10, 2009

I'm having flashbacks...

36 comments:

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